Radiation Therapy With or Without Cetuximab in Treating Patients Who Have Undergone Surgery for Locally Advanced Head and Neck Cancer

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RATIONALE: Giving radiation therapy that uses a 3-dimensional (3-D) image of the tumor to help focus thin beams of radiation directly on the tumor, and giving radiation therapy in higher doses over a shorter period of time, may kill more tumor cells and have fewer side effects. Monoclonal antibodies, such as cetuximab, can block tumor growth in different ways. Some block the ability of tumor cells to grow and spread. Others find tumor cells and help kill them or carry tumor-killing substances to them. It is not yet known whether radiation therapy is more effective when given alone or together with cetuximab in treating patients with head and neck cancer that has been removed by surgery.

PURPOSE: This randomized phase III trial is studying radiation therapy to see how well it works compared with radiation therapy given together with cetuximab in treating patients who have undergone surgery for locally advanced head and neck cancer.

Determine whether the addition of cetuximab to postoperative intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) will improve overall survival (OS) in patients with locally advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck at intermediate risk following surgery.

Secondary

Assess the impact of the addition of cetuximab to postoperative IMRT on disease-free survival (DFS) of these patients.

Assess the impact of the addition of cetuximab to postoperative IMRT on acute and late dysphagia, xerostomia, skin toxicity, and other toxicities according to common Toxicity Criteria for Adverse Effects (CTCAE), v. 4 and their relationships with patient-reported outcomes at 3, 12, and 24 months.

Analyze tumor for epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), specifically the extent of EGFR overexpression by immuno-histochemistry (IHC) and FISH analysis, EGFRvIII expression, as well as the association of these assay data with OS and DFS.

Analyze tumor for human papillomavirus (HPV) infection (as defined by in situ hybridization), specifically, within the cohort of patients with oropharynx cancer, to perform an exploratory analysis of the impact of HPV on DFS and OS of this patient subset.

Analyze tumor DNA for TP53 mutations as a predictor of response to cetuximab and prognosis.

Analyze germline DNA of polymorphic variants in EGFR intron repeats as a predictor of response to cetuximab.

Tertiary

Assess the impact of the addition of cetuximab to postoperative IMRT on loco-regional control.

Assess the impact of the addition of cetuximab to postoperative IMRT on patient-reported quality of life, swallowing, xerostomia, and skin toxicity based on head and neck specific instruments, including the Performance Status Scale for Head and Neck Cancer (PSS-HN), the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Head & Neck (FACT-H&N), the University of Michigan Xerostomia-Related Quality of Life Scale (XeQOLS), and the Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI).

Assess the impact of the addition of cetuximab to postoperative IMRT on cost-utility analysis using the EuroQol (EQ-5D).

Evaluate the utility of image-guided radiotherapy (IGRT) as a means of enhancing the efficacy (i.e., loco-regional control) of IMRT while reducing the acute and/or late toxicity (particularly xerostomia) and improving patient-reported outcomes (particularly XeQOLS scores).

Retrospectively compare the loco-regional control rate in patients treated with IMRT alone (no IGRT or cetuximab) with similar patients treated with external beam radiotherapy alone in the postoperative clinical trial Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG)-95 01.

Arm I: Patients undergo intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) once daily 5 days a week for 6 weeks in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.

Arm II: Patients undergo IMRT as in arm I. Patients also receive cetuximab IV over 1-2 hours once weekly beginning at least 5 days prior to the start of IMRT and continuing for 4 weeks after the completion of IMRT (for a total of 11 doses) in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.

Quality of life is assessed at baseline and at 3, 12, and 24 months.

Tissue samples are collected periodically for further laboratory analysis.

After completion of study treatment, patients are followed up at 1 and 3 months, every 3 months for 2 years, every 6 months for 3 years, and then annually thereafter.

Patients undergo intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) once daily 5 days a week for 6 weeks in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.

Radiation: intensity-modulated radiation therapy

Patients undergo radiotherapy.

Experimental: Arm II: IMRT plus cetuximab

Patients undergo IMRT as in arm I. Patients also receive cetuximab IV over 1-2 hours once weekly beginning at least 5 days prior to the start of IMRT and continuing for 4 weeks after the completion of IMRT (for a total of 11 doses) in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.

Overall survival [ Time Frame: From randomization to date of death or last follow-up. Analysis occurs after 372 events have been reported. ]

Secondary Outcome Measures
:

Adverse events (dysphagia, xerostomia, and skin toxicity) according to CTCAE, v. 4 and their relationships with patient-reported outcomes at 3, 12, and 24 months [ Time Frame: From start of treatment to 2 years after end of treatment. ]

Other acute adverse events (≤ 90 days from start of radiotherapy [RT]) according to CTCAE, v. 4 [ Time Frame: From start of treatment to 90 days. ]

Other late adverse events (> 90 days from start of RT) according to CTCAE, v. 4 [ Time Frame: From 90 days after start of treatment to last follow-up. ]

Disease-free survival [ Time Frame: From randomization to date of failure (local, regional or distant progression or death) or last follow-up. Analysis occurs at the same time as the primary outcome. ]

Loco-regional control [ Time Frame: From randomization to date of failure (local or regional progression or distant progression or death) or last follow-up. Analysis occurs at the same time as the primary outcome. ]

Quality of life as measured by Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Head & Neck (FACT-HN) and EuroQol (EQ-5D) at baseline and at 3, 12, and 24 months [ Time Frame: From randomization to 2 years. ]

Xerostomia as measured by University of Michigan Xerostomia-Related Quality of Life Scale (XeQOLS) at baseline and at 3, 12, and 24 months [ Time Frame: From randomization to 2 years. ]

Swallowing as measured by the normalcy of diet subscale of the Performance Status Scale for Head and Neck Cancer (PSS-HN) at baseline and at 3, 12, and 24 months [ Time Frame: From randomization to 2 years. ]

Skin toxicity as measured by the Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI) at baseline and at 3, 12, and 24 months [ Time Frame: From randomization to 2 years. ]

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Ages Eligible for Study:

18 Years and older (Adult, Senior)

Sexes Eligible for Study:

All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers:

No

Criteria

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

Histologically confirmed squamous cell carcinoma (including variants, such as verrucous carcinoma, spindle cell carcinoma, or carcinoma not otherwise specified) of the head and neck, including the following subtypes:

Oral cavity

Oropharynx

Larynx

Clinical stage T1, N1-2, M0 OR T2-4a, N0-2, M0 disease based on the following diagnostic workup within the past 8 weeks:

General history and physical examination by a Radiation Oncologist and/or Medical Oncologist

Chest x-ray or chest CT scan (with or without contrast) or chest CT/PET scan (with or without contrast)

Must have undergone gross total resection of the primary tumor with curative intent within the past 7 weeks with surgical pathology demonstrating ≥ 1 of the following criteria for "intermediate" risk of recurrence:

Close margin(s) of resection, defined as cancer extending to within 5 mm of a surgical margin, and/or an initially focally positive margin that is subsequently superseded by intraoperative negative margins (similarly, patients whose tumors had focally positive margins in the main specimen but negative margins from re-excised samples in the region of the positive margin are eligible)

Pathologically confirmed T3 or T4a primary tumor

T2 oral cavity cancer with > 5 mm depth of invasion

No positive margin(s) (defined as tumor present at the cut or inked edge of the tumor), nodal extracapsular extension, and/or gross residual disease after surgery